April 15, 1920] 



NATURE 



211 



Army of the Rhine— on educational institutions and 

 work connected with the Army of Occupation. The 

 first number appeared on March 31, 19 19, and a copy 

 of the anniversary issue reached us a few days ago. 

 The journal has been most successful, and is exerting 

 a very valuable influence in revealing British thought 

 and spirit to Germany. It has a large circle of 

 German readers, and is used in many schools for 

 reading lessons and the study of English. " Here," 

 says an editorial article in the anniversary number, 

 ■"in this great German city we bide, facing a 

 wonderful land torn with dissensions, after the 

 mightiest conflict of all time ; we of the Cologne 

 Post— a little band of soldier scribes — and, never for- 

 getting the ravaged west which lies behind us, we 

 are facing east, where the sun rises." To the staff 

 which is thus promoting a better understanding 

 between two peoples we offer our most cordial con- 

 gratulations upon the success of their faithful and 

 intelligent work. It is particularly appropriate that 

 we should associate ourselves with other good wishers 

 in this expression, because Capt. W. E. Rolston, the 

 editor and manager of the Cologne Post, was, before 

 the war, a constant contributor to our columns. He 

 was formerly an assistant to Sir Norman Lockyer in 

 the Solar Physics Observatory at South Kensington, 

 and when the observatory was transferred to Cam- 

 bridge he went with it. For several years he wrote 

 the whole of the notes in Our Astronomical Column, 

 and also contributed numerous articles and reviews. 

 Capt. Rolston provides another example of the value 

 of a scientific training to business management and 

 literary balance, and his devoted attention to what 

 IS really a unique newspaper merits the fullest official 

 recognition. 



In a study of the colour and markings of pedigree 

 Hereford cattle (Journal of Genetics, vol. ix., No. 3) 

 Miss F. Pitt finds that the breed arose by selection 

 from the nondescript cattle of the county during the 

 seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. All sorts 

 •of colours and markings prevailed, but among them 

 the red with white face, which is still characteristic 

 ■of the breed, was most common. This pattern prob- 

 ably originated through a mutation which appeared in 

 a dark herd in 1750, and was kept and bred from as a 

 curiosity. The white face is a dominant condition, 

 while excessive white in modern Herefords is found to 

 be recessive to the typical pigmentation. Variations 

 from type which now occur in the breed are due to the 

 outcrop of recessive characters inherited from the time 

 before pattern selection was practised. 



Considerable foliage injury is reported in Michigan 

 owing to the substitution of calcium and magnesium 

 irsenates for lead arsenate for spraying purposes, 

 rhe Quarterly Bulletin of the Michigan .Agricultural 

 College Experiment Station (vol. ii., No. 2, November, 

 19 19) reports interesting tests carried out to discover 

 the reasons for this injury. Plants in respiring give 

 •out considerable quantities of carbon dioxide, with 

 vxhich the film of moisture on the leaves is presum- 

 ably charged. The tests show that calcium and ' 

 magnesium arsenates are very much more soluble | 

 NO. 2633, VOL. 105] 



in carbonated water than in pure water, while for 

 lead arsenate the reverse is true. It seems, therefore, 

 that this solubility of calcium and magnesium 

 arsenates in carbon dioxide is the cause of the foliage 

 injury occurring in fruit-trees sprayed with these 

 materials. It is suggested that the addition of lime 

 to the spray mixture may prevent the injury, but this 

 suggestion awaits proof. 



.\s the result of comprehensive tests carried out by 

 the New South Wales Department of Agriculture on 

 two of their experimental farms, it is claimed that a 

 more satisfactory method has been found of treating 

 seed-wheat for bunt than by pickling in a bluestone 

 solution. .According to Science and Industry (.Aus- 

 tralia), carbonate of copper gives the best results, as 

 has been shown after many years of experimenting 

 with other substances. The method which the inves- 

 tigators recommend, is to dust dry copper carbonate 

 through the grain at the rate of 2 oz. of the fungicide 

 to one bushel of wheat. Substantial increases in the 

 yield per acre were obtained in comparison with 

 pickled seed, while other advantages which the new 

 process possesses over established practice are said 

 to be that (i) no water is necessary; (2) no injurious 

 effect is caused to either the grain or the young plant, 

 as is the case with bluestone pickling; (3) seed-wheat 

 can be treated weeks before it is sown ; (4) no 

 damage is done to the grain if it should lie in a dry 

 seed-bed for weeks without germinating; (5) better 

 germination is obtained; and (6) the process is 

 quicker and less laborious than wet pickling. 



.An Official Guide has been issued (143 pages, price 

 2s.) to the Museum of British Forestry (Museum 

 No. 4) at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. This 

 museum, which was opened in 1910, occupies Cam- 

 bridge Cottage, formerly the residence of the Duke 

 of Cambridge. The term "forestry" is more cor- 

 rectly used as synonymous with sylviculture — that is, 

 for trees and shrubs that are grown for commercial 

 purposes — the term "arboriculture" being used for 

 trees and shrubs that are grown as specimen plants 

 or for purely ornamental work. The objects in view 

 in the production of the two types of trees are 

 very different, and the mature specimens differ 

 in appearance. The scope of the museum is at 

 present limited to collections of timber, fruits and 

 seeds of trees, dried specimens of a few types of hardy 

 trees and shrubs, photographs of isolated trees and 

 plantations, the fungus- and insect-diseases of trees, 

 articles manufactured from British-grown timber, and 

 tools and machinery used in sylvicultural and arbori- 

 cultural operations. In most instances the specimens 

 shown have been grown, manufactured, or collected 

 in the British Isles. Room No. 3 contains a series 

 of special interest to the student, and illustrates the 

 trees and shrubs native to or planted in Great Britain, 

 with a brief account of their economic uses ; the 

 arrangement is according to the natural families. 

 Injuries to trees caused by various agencies — animals, 

 parasitic or climbing plants, fungi, and insects — are 

 also illustrated in detail. .Apart from its service as a 

 guide to the museum, the booklet contains much 



